WorldLink to Host Youth Conference on Media's Power and Influence

The University of San Diego’s WorldLink Program will host the 16th Annual Youth Town Meeting (YTM), which will focus on the theme of Media’s Power and Influence.

WorldLink’s 16th YTM will be held on Thursday, January 24th from 8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Over 700 high school students from the United States, Mexico and abroad and more than 20 leading experts will come to the USD campus to engage in meaningful discussion on the power of media, and focus specifically on the following topics: social media’s revolutionary change, the relevance of traditional media, the relationship between media and government, media as a humanitarian voice and media as a global activist.

This year’s speakers include Wafa Garbout, an 18-year old who, after experiencing the revolution in Tunisia, became the vice president of an organization called WeYouth Tunisia, Dimiter Kenarov, a journalist with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting who covers environmental activism in Eastern Europe, and Santosh Shah, the founder and president of a multi-media and youth organization based in Kathmandu, Nepal.

YTMs are grounded in the belief that youth have much to offer and much to gain from discussion with experts and professionals regarding the complexities and challenges of international affairs. As a student from Federal Lazaro Cardenas in Baja Mexico said, “Being close and interacting with students from different ages and cultures made me feel that if we really want to accomplish something or make a difference for good in our society, we must join together, forgetting the differences between us.”

This event is reserved for students and is not open to the public. For more information, contact WorldLink Program Officer Debbie Martinez at (619) 260-7568, or dmartinez@sandiego.edu.

WHO: 700 youth from San Diego and Baja Mexico, and over 20 leading experts in international affairs

WHAT: WorldLink 16th Annual Youth Town Meeting, “Changing Worlds: Media's Power and Influence.”

WHERE: Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice and Shiley Theater
University of San Diego, 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego, CA 92110

WHEN: Thursday, January 24, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.